An open letter to a British MP on imposing abortion on North of Ireland

Dear Mr Heald,

Thank you for your reply to my email regarding the extreme abortion framework being imposed on Northern Ireland. However, I was disappointed to see that you didn't actually engage with any of the points that I raised and am left wondering if you have actually taken the time to read the framework and how it compares to the UK Abortion Act of 1967, as there are many glaring discrepancies. I was also disappointed that you didn't acknowledge the horrific law that is about to be foisted on the North and that you didn’t agree to write to Boris Johnson and the new NI Secretary of State, Brandon Lewis.

Allow me, if you will, to comment on your comments:

The Government recognises the sensitivity of this issue and the range of views expressed by people on all sides of the debate. The strength of feeling from MPs was clearly demonstrated during the votes on the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation & Exercise of Functions) Act 2019.

The feeling may have been strong but the majority voted on the abortion bill that fell way outside their jurisdiction and the majority of MPs who voted for the extreme bill have displayed little interest in the affairs of Northern Ireland before and since. When The Historical Institutional Abuse (Northern Ireland) Bill was being drafted in July last, Ian Paisley made some interesting observations on such MPs who were eager to vote for abortion in Northern Ireland but many of whom appeared to have been missing for the scrutinising of the above Bill:

"Where are they, Madam Deputy Speaker? Why is the House empty? Where are they? Where is the choir of people who are normally so interested in Northern Ireland and who wish to introduce the most damaging legislation in the history of Northern Ireland? Where are they today? They are hardly at the Tory party conference. They tell us that they want the House back and sitting because they need to hold the Government to account. Where are they? 

"Where are their probing questions about the protection of vulnerable lives? They are quick to be here when they want to destroy the unborn life, but they are absent today, when we want to ask questions and scrutinise the Government on the protection of innocent victims in institutional care in Northern Ireland. It is a disgrace that they are not here. 

"Their absence speaks thousands of words to the people of Northern Ireland about how much they really care. Are they even really interested in abortion rights in Northern Ireland and the rights of woman in Northern Ireland? No, they are interested in one thing: pursuing their own agenda. They use this House and abuse this House to get those things done."

However, what I find deeply concerning is the patronising attitude of many MPs towards the North, still viewing it with almost a Victorian mindset. As an Irishwoman, I am in a position to comment on colonising attitudes that still prevail towards Ireland, both sides of the border. As Lord Alton put it: 100% of those who voted for abortion in the North were from constituencies outside that region, while 100% of those who voted against it were from the North. Once again, this is not democratic.

What is also deeply concerning is how Stella Creasy and some of her other cohorts hijacked the Domestic Abuse Bill and with the help of abortion advocate, John Bercow, added on a completely irrelevant amendment, as I am sure you are fully aware. This was neither democratic nor just. The people of Northern Ireland did not vote for this and Creasy made a foolishly unintelligent remark that the people of Northern Ireland should have no say in their own law, while comparing it to a vasectomy:

“Can [you] confirm whether there is going to be public involvement in that consultation? It is really important for this House to be clear that, just as we would not ask non-medical professionals to consult on how to conduct a vasectomy, we should not do so when it comes to an abortion.” 

Embarrassingly for her as an elected representative, this shows how little Creasy understands about 1. democracy and 2. abortion, as those she repeatedly defends are continuously trying to make the law pliable enough that non-medical personnel will able to perform abortions and this is actually included in the new NI Abortion law. Too bad Creasy didn't take the time to study what she was actually assisting on pushing through Westminster, by fraudulent and deceitful means, if necessary.

It is unfortunate for the people of Walthamstow that Creasy seems to be a committed meddler, for she appeared to spend so much time with her nose in the business of other constituencies that it is a marvel how she ever got time to address the concerns of her own district. Before the abortion referendum of May 2018 in Ireland, she strutted around Westminster in a Repeal shirt - the Republic of Ireland’s affairs are most certainly none of her business and once again, I say this an Irishwoman. Creasy has shown little prior interest in the North, except to fly in (at the taxpayers’ expense, no doubt) and has refused to meet pro-life groups there. How is this democratic? 

I have written to Creasy (before she went on maternity leave - the irony is not wasted on me) and I have not received a reply and I doubt I ever will. However, I do not live within her constituency, so I was not surprised. Nevertheless, how was she able to interfere in a law in the North, where citizens can’t even write to her to ask her to explain herself, as they do not live in her constituency? This is ridiculous and deeply unfair. 

The Government is working towards the laying of regulations for a new legal framework for the provision of abortion services in Northern Ireland, as required by the 2019 Act. The new framework will be in force by 31 March 2020.

To help inform the shape of the legislation that is introduced, a consultation was held. This has now closed, and the Government is due to publish its response shortly. 

The Government is only legally required by the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 to allow for the following cases:

• Threat to physical or mental health
• Life limiting disability
• Rape and incest

What is actually being included in the abortion framework, which goes far beyond what is required by the 2019 Act:

• Threat to physical or mental health
• Life limiting disability
• Rape and incest
• Abortion on demand, for any reason including sex-selective abortion, through to either 12 or 14 weeks
• De facto abortion on demand for any reason up to either 22 or 24-weeks
• Disability selective abortion for any disability including Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot, right through to birth.

No legal restrictions on locations where abortions can take place – Abortions could be performed almost anywhere including GPs' surgeries, schools, mobile abortion clinics and through ‘Facetime’ consultations.

Any “registered healthcare professional” would be able to provide terminations – There would be no requirement that a doctor must be involved – healthcare assistants, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, health visitors would be able to provide and approve abortions.

It would be more difficult to prosecute men who slip abortion pills into a woman’s food

Full details are of some length, hence the reason that I haven't included them all. I urge you to peruse the full list, here. Here is a list of 18 facts about the new regime.

This is appalling and therefore, I can't understand your comments such as this:

I very much welcome the Government’s commitment to ensure that the health and safety of women and girls, and clarity and certainty for the medical profession, are at the forefront of their considerations.

I would appreciate clarification on the above, as I do not understand what you mean by “the health and safety of women and girls”. I presume that you mean the availability of abortion, paid for by the taxpayer. How is this pro-woman and pro-girl? 

You also mention the medical profession but as it stands, there is no conscientious objection for those who do not want to participate, as this was not part of the framework, unlike the 1967 Abortion Act in the UK. And at least 700 pro-life medical personnel wrote to the then Northern Ireland secretary, voicing their objections. What will happen to them?

Here are some actual facts on abortion:

Sex-selective abortion in the world has resulted in the loss of at least 160 million missing women. It's already been uncovered in certain communities in the UK. And as sex-selective abortion is now legal in the North, I am at a loss to see how that will protect females.

In six weeks’ time it will be legal to abort up to birth babies with extra fingers / clubfoot  in Northern Ireland. Already severe under-reporting of babies aborted with disabilities occurs in the UK. This is eugenics, pure and simple and deliberately targeting those who are regarded as “imperfect” is at the heart of what both Marie Stopes and the American Margaret Sanger stood for - and now their names are over two of the largest abortion chains in the world: MS and Planned Parenthood. And both women were avid admirers of Hitler.

In 2008, 66 babies survived abortions in the UK and were left to die, one child lived for 10 hours. I am sure that like me, you find this appalling in a so-called civilised nation. This is the ugly reality of abortion and it is happening all around the world, from Europe to Canada to the USA. 

It concerns me that subsequent UK governments have striven to keep abortion information out of the public eye. Why the secrecy if there is nothing to hide? And yet clearly this has been going on. How can this possibly be to the benefit of women and girls?

In the UK, young girls are being brought for abortions without the knowledge of their parents, thanks to the misinterpretation of the Fraser guidelines and failures to report such statutory rapes are epidemic here. 

Intimate partner violence is common in the UK and is known to increase when a woman is pregnant, such as the horrific attack carried out by Harief Pearson aided by his cousin and an unnamed 16-year-old on his pregnant girlfriend.

Men have obtained abortion pills and have given them to their pregnant partners, surreptitiously. This will now be possible under the new NI abortion law.

In the Rotherham child sexual abuse scandal, one girl became pregnant by her rapists six times and was brought for three abortions, where she was returned afterwards to her abusers, no questions asked in the clinic.

BPAS has just received an “inadequate” rating in one criterion for its Streatham clinic and its Merseyside clinic had a litany of abuses. Let's not forget the appalling reports of Marie Stopes in 2016, with their “cattle market” conditions, to name but one abuse. And it's still happening in 2020. And how is this pro-woman?

I have spent the last number of years studying the global abortion industry, as well as that in the UK and I have yet to find how it protects the health and well-being of women and girls. The bottom line is the profit and everything else is irrelevant to those who are currently raking in millions and being paid obscene salaries while ending the lives of those who are the most vulnerable among us and need our protection from the Global Abortion Goliath.

Thank you for your time in reading my email and I look forward to your response to the above.

Yours, sincerely,

Maria Horan

M.A. Women’s Studies, B.A. Arts, H.Dip.Ed., H.Dip.R.E., Dioplóma sa Ghaeilge Fheidhmeach, B.A. Ed.